The Revolution in Air Travel Distribution: Buy Anywhere, Be Serviced Anywhere

The landscape of air travel distribution is undergoing a revolution and travel advisors are in the middle of it. With travelers able to plan and book flights on many platforms, and with so many more options like seat choice and baggage check, it’s critical that the industry has a solution that provides a streamlined, seamless experience, according to Shelly Younger, director, airline retailing for Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC).

Younger told TravelPulse in an interview that omnichannel retailing solutions—enabling customers to buy anywhere and be serviced anywhere—can address this issue by creating a more personalized employee experience by connecting airlines, travel agencies and travelers, ultimately leading to improved customer retention and overall satisfaction.

ARC plays two primary roles in the purchase of air travel, according to Younger. First, it is responsible for agency accreditation, providing agencies the ability to issue airline transactions that are reported to ARC for credit billing or cash settlement. As a result of the company’s role in accreditation, ARC has a wide variety of data and analytical products reflecting airline transactions, including tickets and ancillaries, like seats, bags and priority boarding. ARC is also able to offer global airline data through a partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The challenge in this more complex landscape, said Younger, is getting the right product to the right customer at the right time. With an airline ticket purchase now including options like seat choice, baggage checking, lounge passes and more, transactions should ideally be a lot more personalized because each traveler will be buying a different “bundle.”

Younger equated omnichannel solutions, including direct connect with NDC, to the Amazon experience—knowing what customers like to shop for and what they have purchased in the past. ARC, she said, is providing solutions to help make that kind of customer insight and a better experience possible.

Part of the evolution of the distribution network is the emergence of direct connect. In addition to agencies accessing airline fares and content through the traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS), they can now connect directly to airline content either through a one-on-one connection or through an aggregator. While GDSs were the original aggregators of airline sales, other aggregators are doing the same with direct content as well as with GDS.

In the GDS world, said Younger, the GDSs put together the price, fare rules and schedules, then communicated with the airline about whether a particular seat at that price was available. With direct connect, the airline itself is compiling and distributing that information. According to Younger, today, 7 percent of ARC volume is direct connect transactions and growing rapidly. GDSs have moved toward providing direct content as well.

The Advantages of Direct Connect
—Direct connect allows providers to know who is shopping. Newer technology supported by direct connect enables “more sexy” and personalized content, including bundles and corporate deals as well as the use of pictures, other graphics and details on the airline products which have not been available in the GDS. While direct connect enables the airline to know who the buyer is, the consumer can still shop anonymously as a guest.

—New Distribution Capability (NDC), a set of XML standards that enables enhanced customer experience through direct connect by offering details about airline products and additional airline ancillaries available through this upgraded communication. Buyers can get access to unique fares not available through the traditional GDS.

There are many advantages to personalized content, said Younger. And where ARC can help, she said, is by providing a centralized reporting and settlement platform for airlines to send ARC direct connect transactions. ARC will pull direct connect and GDS transactions together—creating a more efficient reconciliation and settlement experience for the travel seller.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of growing pains with all these changes. If a travel agency is small and doesn’t have all the technological chops a larger agency might have, advisors, will probably continue to rely on the GDS for access to direct connect content. If the agency is larger and can support these changes, it will be more likely to work directly with airlines for access to direct connect content. In any case, the GDS will continue to play an important role as travel sellers adapt to the changes and as they themselves continue to update their technologies.

A big focus for ARC is data, based on the millions of airline tickets it handles. Many customers want that information. For instance, destination management organizations (DMOs) will want it so they can see flight trends and patterns which will help in their marketing.

One of the significant changes Younger is seeing is that more advisors are taking an active role in distribution—learning about direct connect and NDC, understanding where content is coming from, what the changes are in the content, seeking to get better content and working directly with airlines or with aggregators to better understand the data. All of that will enable them to provide more value to their customers.

ARC is looking at a variety of ways to connect all the channel dots—talking to advisors and airlines to optimize all the connections. The call to action now, she said, is that the industry as a whole needs to be taking the omnichannel aspect very seriously. Travelers want to shop in all the channels but also want to be serviced in all the channels. The mantra, said Younger, is “buy anywhere, get serviced anywhere.”

Advisors should take an active role with their airline or aggregator partner, asking questions about how they will help travel sellers meet their omnichannel needs. Combining the GDS channel and director content channels might be more complex, she said, but it also offers many opportunities to provide value to the end customer.

In the end, Younger says the goal is a better customer experience through optimizing omnichannel distribution. Everybody in the industry, she concluded, has an interest in reducing any friction in the buying and selling of airline tickets.